Alec Scheiner reflects on his time with the Cleveland Browns

Alec Scheiner led a dramatic change on the business side for the Cleveland Browns.

When the Haslam family bought the Cleveland Browns in 2012, when the first decisions the new ownership decided to make was to hire Alec Scheiner as the president of the team. Scheiner was working with the Cowboys and quickly became a potential star due to his work in Dallas.

It did not take long for Scheiner to make an impact for the Browns on the business side. He helped to create a wider outreach for the organization and created new revenues for the team. For an organization that was becoming stagnant, Scheiner helped open up opportunities for the Browns.

Scheiner made several changes to the Browns in four years with the team before stepping down from his role in 2016. In an interview with TheHoya.com, Scheiner reflected on his time with the Cleveland Browns.

"We transformed the business. When we got to the Browns, they were one of the worst businesses in the NFL, and four years later, I think we were the second-fastest growing business in the NFL, only behind the [San Francisco] 49ers who had the new stadium and had been to multiple conference championships, and we were winning four games a year. I took a ton of pride in that, and we hired great people. We didn’t have one person say, “I don’t want to go to Cleveland.” We transformed the business operation, so I was proud of that. – Scheiner via TheHoya.com"

Two of Scheiner’s biggest changes with the Browns were the upgrades to FirstEnergy Stadium, as well as selling the naming rights to the stadium, which had been Cleveland Browns Stadium since it opened in 1999, with the help of the Haslam’s.

Scheiner’s efforts in renovating the stadium were focused on improving the fan experience, most notably with the updated scoreboards. However, it also made the stadium look more up to date, as the stadium quickly became outdated throughout the years.

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The other main change under Scheiner was the new uniforms unveiled in 2015. Although many fans wanted to update the uniforms, Scheiner and the organization made too dramatic of a change, as well as the uniforms being hard to watch on TV, causing the fans to quickly disapprove of the uniforms.

Although Scheiner’s business efforts dramatically helped the organization over the past decade, he also quickly overstayed his welcome as he reportedly tried to become a focal point of the football side of the organization, which was reported by CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora in 2015. Scheiner’s attempted involvement with the football personnel created even more dysfunction the organization did not need.

Scheiner did a fine a job improving the business, albeit with some miscalculations (i.e. the uniforms). However, his decision to want to get involved with the football department may have been caused by his working under the Jones family in Dallas for so many years and wanting to resemble the same type of growth and success.

If it weren’t for Scheiner, the Browns likely would not have been setup as well in 2020 if it were not for Scheiner’s dramatic changes. He managed to make several changes in only four years and helped improve the Cleveland Browns business footprint.